American Political Campaigns

This guide is recommended for students in PL SC 130 : American Political Campaigns.

Electronic Resources

There is a wide range of databases that can help you find information about American political campaigns. Below are some good starting places. All these are available from the Libraries' Home page under Databases by title (A-Z List).

Background Information

Gale Virtual Reference Library
a collection of hundreds of encyclopedias on specialized topics that you can cross search. Two of the most useful are:

American Decades (10 volumes)
great for information on the period. Gives a broad overview of government and politics for each decade.
Presidents: A Reference History, 3rd ed., 2002
overviews of each of the presidents (through 2002). These often include significant backgrounds on the elections.

Politics

CQ Electronic Library
This is actually a series of related databases. While they can be searched as a group, it is generally much more effective to search each individually:

Congress and the Nation
arranged in 5-year increments, this is a good place to start to get a feel for the political climate during the period you are researching. Gives a broad overview of the political issues being discussed, relative party strengths, etc.
Voting and Elections Collection
expert analysis, demographics, and data for presidential, congressional, and gubernatorial elections.
Vital Statistics on American Politics
everything you need in statistics related to elections from media to campaign spending.
Historic Documents Series
a good place to find key speeches made during the election cycle (e.g. party convention addresses, etc.)
CQ Weekly
similar to Time or Newsweek but solely focused on politics, it does in-depth articles on the elections and analysis of the results. Browse CQ Weekly in print in the Social Sciences Library Periodical Browsing Area.

News Resources

New York Times Historical (1851-2004) Digital Archive

Proquest Newstand
covers 50 of the nation’s top newspapers

Journal Articles

Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
the best resource to find scholarly journal articles on elections. Includes links to many full-text online articles

Polling Information

Gallup Brain
election polls by groups

iPoll
much broader than Gallup, covers a wide range of polling organizations

Print Resources

All the print resources listed below are shelved on 2nd Floor Paterno Library.

A statistical history of the American electorate / Rusk, Jerrold G.
Call Number: JK1967.R87 2001

America at the polls : a handbook of American presidential election statistics
Call Number: JK524.A73

Open Secrets (current information is online at opensecrets.org)
Call Number: JK1991.M26

Congressional Quarterly Almanac
Call Number: JK1.C66

Almanac of Federal PACs
Call Number: JK1991.A76

The Almanac of American Politics
Call Number: JK8.A45 2004 (at the Social Sciences Library Reference Desk)

Encyclopedia of American political parties and elections
Call Number: JK2261.S218 2006

Encyclopedia of third parties in America / edited by Immanuel Ness and James Ciment
Call Number: JK2261.E53 2000

National party conventions, 1831-2000 (includes party platforms)
Call Number: JK2255.N373 2001